RAD

I tried for over a week and a half to get some parts from gary's Inc. / Subaru service, 3940 W 13th Ave. Eugene, OR 97402 I spoke with someone there who told me I would get a call back... and again, and again.. and again, This "Gary" could not take a lousy 5 Minutes to call a cutomer and tell him what he had or did not have, what he could do or not do, not even a quick call to say if he was to busy to do whatever! What a jerk! That is no way to run any business, not a very smart way to make money, and beyond unprofessional, is just plain lazy, disimissive and rude! Any business can take a few seconds to at least touch base with a customer wanting to spend money sometime withing WEEKS. No excuse for this kind of garbage! If you need parts, look somewhere else where they can actually handle at least giving a call back!

I am East of San Bernardino, East of Redlands, East of Mentone, off Hwy 38. Last night coming back from town I hit a hard to see rock in the road and totally tore apart the right front wheel assembly - Swing arm tweaked, axel pulled apart, ball joint separated. This may be ther end. I cannot fix this, not out here, not sure how I would even find a swing arm.

Why are you doing all that? Seems like a value judgement to me. You would not be going to all that trouble if you just wanted to drive a Corolla, lol. You're going to all that effort because of the value you have for what you are working on and the vehicle it is going into.

You are one of those people who are so full of your own opinion that you will never respect other opinions, and will continue to degrade opposing oppinions. Like I said, I fixed my Brat with a range of serious problems out in the dirt and rocks. That mechanic in Oregon, you insult him too, you jerk. He has a line of vehicles and customers waiting to do business with him, to do business with him means being on a waiting list. He is, and has proven himself a better mechanic than you are for a certainty. Your own statements versus his performance make that clear to me. Which is better - a mechanic who can do the job, or a mechanic with an endless list of excuses why not to do the job? You would not be fit to work on my Brat with your attitude, and that mechanic and me, we had no issues, I asked him to do a job, he did the job, he got paid, just that simple. All you have are excuses and insults and conceit.

I think I have identified what is really wrong with the minor controversy regarding keeping an EA81 engine and improving it. There are obvious reasons to an EJ engine swap, IF you have the money, the skill or mechanic with skill, can do without your Subaru for up to a month or more depending on circumstances, having to essentially buy a second vehicle and strip it of half its parts, etc. The proselytes of the EJ swap all forget or disimiss one very simple, important concept. The older Subarus, and Brats in particular have been loved and had good reutations in various ways - Why? There are reasons for such things, you know. Some vehicles are loved just for thier looks, even if their performance or drivetrain or reliablility/longevity, etc. is not the best. Some vehicles are loved for thier mechanical qualities, and not so much for thier looks. Some vehicles are prized for reasons or lack of reason that really defies logic, reality, tatse or common sense. The 1st and 2nd Gen Subarus, Brats in particular (I am biased) gave us a little (-or a lot) but of it all. They are cool vehicles, they were/are forgiveing and reliable vehicles, had 4WD, good gas mileage, etc. etc. etc. They were/are known for taking you damn near anywhere and everywhere, and in my experience, could take you some places that the best off-roaders with the biggest wheels and even Hum-Vee's couldn't get into for various reasons. This included the fact that they could "Fit" in and through places the others could not, and that stooped the 'big boys' dead in their tracks with NO hope of going farther. This included the fact that for a 4WD, they were lighter than most anything else, and would go over soft terrain and not get stuck, where others would. This included the fact that even if you got yourself into a mess, you had MUCH more chance to get out of it, to fix it, or even to ignore seroius problems, and be able to get back home where someone else would have to call thier friends to come get them out of thier mess. There are very real reasons why they had the various reputations they did and do, and I could go on for some paragraphs about this from even my own personal experiences, multiplied by the experiences of so many others. So when everyone else is saying that the answer to everything is "42" (EJ swap), I say, you need to reexamine the question. What makes an EA81 Subaru (Brat) what it is? What has given it the qualities it has? Just a shell of a body? Looks? Absolutely not! EJ Engine swap: You have to essentially buy another vehicle, a mostly good vehicle likely, because you need the engine, the wiring harness, the dash, several other components, and while you're at it, you may as well use the transmission too if you can, and what does that leave of that other vehicle? - Mostly a now empty shell. Yes, you can search and find this part here and that part there, and that justy means more time, so again, it would make more sense to just buy a second car and almost completely cannibalise it. Same thing towards the new creation, what is it now? What is left of what it was? You have essentially gutted your Subaru (Brat) to where what remains of the original is not much more than a shell. - What's the point of that? You may as well have just bought some kit car and put it all into that. The only good thing about amn old Subaru (Brat) is the shell ?!? - Really ?!? Think about that.... The good qualities of the older Subaru (Brat) are more than just looks, more than just some damned shell! There are not many EA81 Subarus in the road now, parts are hard to find - is that because they were not a good vehicle, not a good engine, not reliable? Absolutely not! There are many reasons why they are rare now, and it has nothing to do with any lack of quality or reliability! Parts are hard to find for 'Model T's' now. They are certainly not known for performance! But people are still rebuilding them! You want another reason to prove my point? Let's see.... is it still true? Is is still there?.. Yes, it is... Lets check on a big indicator of value, shall we?.... "Top 10 "Scarciest" Cars on AutoTrader.com" http://www.autotrader.com/car-news/top-10-scarciest-cars-on-autotradercom-130792 Circa - October 2011 - Apparently they have not found reason to change it, and it still has truth to it. #1 Scarciest, most saught after vehicle. Not the Model 'T', Not the rare old Corvettes. Not engine-swapped Subarus. Good, old Brats. There were an average of 27,000 searches in one month, to find one or two rats for sale. Do you think they are more or less rare now? You think people are not still looking for them? When I was in Oregon, not three weeks would go by before someone would try to buy my Brat. Not one week would go by without someone going out of thier way to compliment my Brat. In the last two years when I searched Craigslist in Oregon and California, Brats in BAD shape, all primer and stupid stickers, with dents, etc were going for an average of $1,700. Brats in good shape were going for $5,000 and more! I guarantee you this is not just because of some cool lookng SHELL! The EA81 engine was and is not just some piece of junk! The EA81 is not harder to find parts for than a Model 'T' ! Yeah, we may have to search more, pay more for parts or improvise this and that, but its because what we are working with is LEGENDARY in the first place! I will likely someday end up with an EJ Swap Brat - as a SECEOND Subaru, but no engine has earned my respect more than the EA81, and I could never bet my very life, going into the middle of nowhere, or to the far side of hell than the EA81. EJ Swappers - you are in the back seat, lol...

Where my issue was and is concerned, it has never necessarily been about turning my Brat into a race car. I have made a post about "Hot-Rodding" my Brat. which means doing those things possible to improve performance overall, without replacing half the vehicle, and where the EA81 engine is concerned, most of what can be done one way or another involves the Intake Manifold, thus this thread. This subect/issue figures into my post/thread about respect for EA81 and performance, see my next post there for what I was tempted to type out here, regarding the EA81 vs. EJ swap concept and what is wrong with it.

You know, I would understand and even agree with most of what you said, except for that "Stop talking s#!¥," B.S. !

Your LAYERS of attitude and complete lack of respect are really the problem here. If you were at least factually right in your B.S. you might have a point, however, reality does not bend to your dictates. Prime example: DHL Auto in Medford, Oregon. That mechanic dispared at working on my Brat, only in that he said "There is so much this car needs!" He didn't use the pathetic excuse that "Its too old", which is just that. Yes, mechanics need to make a living - did I imply that a mechanic was not going to charge me or something? That's the deal, or is supposed to be the deal - mechanic does a repair, if done right and the vehicle works, he gets paid. Just that simple. This mechanic was not a selfish, quick-to-excuses, unable mechanic. Need a few things done, bearings, seals replaced, clutch job, etc, etc. Was supposed to be a couple days, turned out to take a week, that happens. The whole clutch situation was a disaster, and he said a quote that I have heard many times where old Subarus are concerned: "I don't know how you were able to drive this thing in the condition it was in!" He had to do machining, replace hard-to-find parts, etc. When he got it together, the clutch would not engage. Turned out that a previous unknown mechanic had installed a wrong part. He figured this out because he knew what the hell he was doing, and not some milk-toast mechanic who would only take quick, easy money. He was a REAL mechanic, the old fashioned kind, the honest kind. He got it fixed, it worked great, he had named his price, he got paid. Everybody happy. Yeah, you wouldn't want to work on my Brat because I expect too much, eh? Yeah, I expect a mechanic who is not all "Elite Master" B.S., and who can actually do the job, even if its not quick and easy money every time - that's what honest work is about, you know. You expect everything to be smooth, easy, quick, and all what you want it to be, and in real life and the real world that isn't how it works often. This mechanic was not some narcissitic sel-important so-called expert, just a regular guy with a small garage, but he was a good and honest mechanic, and knew what the hell he was doing. Also - being as you are such a sensitive snowflake of a mechanic, I am no mechanic, although I have long-term experience with older Subarus, and years ago did 95% of my own work, I don't have a fraction of the skills that many of the guys on here do. However, I have taken an old Brat is extremely bad shape, with serious damage to it, multiple problems, and gotten it back to running without a garage, without all the proper tools or equipment, with almost no money, out in the middle of nowhere, in the dirt and rocks, so apparently I'm twice the mechanic you are! If I can do that, a good mechanic with a garage, the proper tools and equipment, etc. could do it easily in little time! So I'm some kind of idiot who expects the impossible eh? Go blow your conceited, insulting smoke elsewhere, you are not the mechanic you claim to be!

Still stuck out in the middel of nowhere, but just barely got it running, had to rely on very difficult jump starts for various reasons, including the system not charging the battery for some reason. Was able to stop the water pouring in to the carb, got the system charging again. While is was out there, someone tried to steal it, got into it without breaking a window somehow (almost thankfully) and completely tore up the ignition switc unit on the steering collumn, steering lock, whole thing messed up. If anyone can spare a whole ignition unit, steeering wheel lock, key(s) and all that bolts onto the steering collumn, that will bolt on to a 1983 Subaru Brat, I would realy appreciate it. I can pay for it, but I am in what amounts to an emergency survival situation, with little or no money at least for now. As long as I can get and keep this thing running, now that I can get into civilization on my own, I can hopefully get work soon and be able to buy everything else it needs and get life going again. Thank you in advance

I had a piece of high temp high pressure hydrolic line to replace the stock formed water bypass hose behind the distributor, which I had going in a half circle around the front of the distributor. I cut a couple pieces, found perfect bolts to tightly plug them, and used hose gaskets to make sure they would not leak or blow. Seems to have worked, not seeing water in carb. Yesterday when I killed the motor there was water gurgling in the carb and leaking out through the 'axel' of the throttle assembly. None of that today. Now my temp gauge is possibly not working as no reading, but connector is in place, and after driving driving about 7 miles, 3-4 of it up a grade, I checked radiator cap and very little pressure let off, but I'm at a bit for a second, so I know the system was water tight. r

At this point, with this present Brat, I may at some point be forced to do an engine swap. Cannot do that for now, just trying to bring it back to life, keep it alive. Sooner or later when I get my life back, I will be looking for a second brat, and that one WILL be, and remain an EA81 engine, by damn! I love that engine/design, lol...

(Late reply of course) Yeah, I found a place to hide in out in the middle of nowhere, have had to live out there in the wilderness for more than one reason anyway. Determined to save my Brat so it can save my practical life.

Ok, not sure of this passage/gasket "under the carb" - If you are referring to the main Carb gasket, it was replaced with a new one, and I saw no significant corrosion or similar problem. If you are referring to something else, please expand on identifying/explaining? I tried to find some picture or illustration of the water passages with the intake manifold. Is therer such? Like if someone cut one in half lengthwise and took a picture of it? Any such or similar illustration? How ese can I plug or bypass any water in or through the intake manifold or carburator/area ??? Thank you.

A dose of reality for your own arrogance and presumed expertise.... Some months ago when I had the money, I breifly considered doing an engine swap: #1 IT IS NOT EASY! - Some people can brag that they can do it in a weekend - those individuals are rare, and just because 1% of all Subaru freaks can do so does NOT mean it is a reasonable alternative for the other 99% of Subaru freaks. #2: IT IS NOT CHEAP! It requires not just an engine, but replacing almost the entire practical electical system - wiring harness, dash, components, etc. etc. etc.... NOT easy, Costs REAL money, you have to essentially buy another vehicle to sacrifice to do it unless you luck out on all that is necessarily required. #3: Tryying to find someone who can do it AT ALL is difficult to impossible unless one is willing to use vacation time or more than a day or two to travel long distances hauling one or possible two vehicles (one for the parts), and again, IT IS NOT CHEAP, unless someone wants to be a laborious philanthropist who wants to do it for someone just to be an insanely kind individual! - again RARE. #4: Trying to find anyone to work on my Brat AT ALL, much less someone who is really qualified to do so, even less so, someone who is a real Subaru freak or any kind of Subaru expert is difficult to impossible. In my area, I could not find a decent mechanic who would even work on my Brat, not even changing a head gasket, much less do a rebuild job or an engine swap. Most popular excuse: "Its too old" - What the hell do they care how old it is?!? Do the work, if it runs, they get their money! I have lost a lot of respect for the average mechanic as a result. #5: I had the money to have it done, and the ONLY guy anywhere near me who could or would do it (and be trusted to know what the hell they were doing, and get it done in a reasonable amount of time, for a reasonable fee) couldn't because he had nowhere to do the work, and I could not work on, or have anyone else work on a vehicle where I lived. I have very little respect for the opinions essentially saying "All you have to do is just..." Yeah, right. Real easy when someone else is supposed to do it! Everything is supposed to be so easy. The realities of real life and how things really work and turn out says otherwise! There is rarely only one solution to a problem or project, any view to the contrary is unrealistically limited and ignorant.

This post originally failed to happen for some reason, see following post...

- As far as racing is concerned, real easy racing on pavement or smooth dirt roads! Try racing in the Baha races of past or if they still happen and see what happens to anything else! Run a race through the worst country in the worst conditions to the far side of hell and back, and the EA81 Brat will do it, bring you back, and beg to do it again!

Your "2000 Suzuki Swift (Geo Metro) 1.3, 5 speed manual" can't take what an EA81 Brat can take and do despite any number of problems, difficulties, challenges, etc! Been proven over and over again in my personal, real-life, first-hand experience! It would not be able to go where I have gone, would not be able to tolerate, would not be able to do what my EA81 Brat has already done. PERIOD!

PROOF! I have been stranded out in the 'nothin for months now, surviving, doing what I can to continue, save my Subaru Brat, and save my practical life. Not kidding, for months at times I have had to walk over a mile just to get water! Over a mile to get drinking water from a ranger station, and 1 mile or slightly less to get water from a river for anything else. After all manner of hardship, difficulties, and just everything going wrong, one thingafter another, and doing all kinds of work on my Brat, I finally got it starter and running enough to get into town, get supplies, charge batteries on my devices, get on this internet, and make a couple posts to figure out the last serious problem with my Brat, which I have posted in a different thread, where water continues to get into my carburetor for some reason. What I am posting about HERE is that if this were one of those fancier engines, especially a turbo, (as so many have figuratively beaten me over the head insisting I do an engine swap - which I don't have the parts resources or mechanic to do so, or lately even the money, or anything else to do so) I would not be making this post! Those fancier engines - I would not have been able to fix like I have with my EA81. I would not have been able to improvise like I have with the EA81. Those fancier engines would not have taken what my EA81 has already been forced to endure, and would not have gotten me here to post! The simplicity, reliability, and 'forgiving nature' of the EA81 is how and why I am here, was able to get here. Otherwise I would have had to give up on it, walk for miles out of where I have been, and had nowhere to sleep, no job, and be redused to being a bum finding some bushes or alleyway to sleep in! I have endured literally living in the wilderness, scraping out, living by my wits, and raising what little money I have been able to, to get this thing running, and to whatever limited extent, I have succeeded in doing do. In the past, especially in my avid off-roading days, I have been abel to bet my life on my Subaru Brats(s) and the EA81 engine(s), and here, more than ever, it has kept me one step above and ahead of losing everything and becoming nothing! Anyone who does not respect the EA81 can eat my dust, kiss my rear end, and go straight to hell! Now to figure out why the hell IK have water spewing into the base of my carburetor so I can finally start my life again! (See thread on this subject) - P.S. NOBODY, but NOBODY loves or is more dedicated to their Subary Brat more than me, and my situation and horrid "adventure" is the real-life, nose-to-the-grindstone proof!

I have been marooned for months now, living by my wits, doing evertything to save my Subaru Brat and my practical life. I have now succeeded in getting carb rebuilt, replacing water pump & almost a dozen gaskets, and other parts/ewprk/etc. Same problem persists.| Some months ago mechanic rebuilt carb, used two carb gaskets instead of one, after that water was spewing into carb, blew out whole water/coolant stystem, caused all kinds of problems. It has been HELL, and any other engine, I could not have got this far. Got it barely/technically running, was able to come into town, gtet supplies and to use wifi and post this. Not sure when I willo be able to c heck this post/thread/etc again, maybe tomorrow or soon, depending on all too many things. How is water still going into my carburetor?!? How can I stop it? Engine runs, very hard to start, for potentially obvious reasons. I suspect something wrong where the intakje manifold is concerned. There is a small coolant hose, about the size of a fuel line in diameter, going from one part of the manifold to another ver near each other near the distributor. Could that be it? Can I plug them up without causing serious danger or problems for engine? I have to stop this water from coming into my carb!!! Help ?!?!?

General reply, not to any one person: When I have won one street race after another against normal, nothing-special cars, have people come up to me denying that I could only have a Boxer engine' and cannot believe how it burned down the street past their vehicle, I find this OBSESSION with EJ swaps to utterly ignorant NONSENSE! If all I want is a fast car, I COULD BUY ANY NUMBER OF USED CARS FOR LESS THAN WHAT AN EJ SWAP IN REALITY WOULD ACTUALLY COST !!! NOT TO MENTION THE TIME INVOLVED ! You all think that an EJ swap is the only answer?!? - and what about all those "Other" costs you guys rarely account for or mention, eh? How about the whole rest of the drive line, including the drive shaft, and what 'punching it' with an EJ can do to the various other parts of the vehicle?!? I don't throw thousands of dollars at a project or problem that can be solved for hundreds. You have lots money and time to throw away, do what you want, but don't go bragging that an EJ swap is the only way to effectively improve performance, and insult someone who does not agree - it is just plain IGNORANT. The EA81 (Brat) is a VERY GOOD DESIGN. It has slight limitation, which can be deal with successfully IN MORE THAN ONE WAY.

HOW MANY TIMES TO I HAVE TO REPEAT THE VERY ELEMENTAL POINT HERE - MODERATION !!!! YOU KEEP FALSELY ASSUMING THE NUCLEAR OPTION AS THE ONLY OPTION! GET OVER IT!

No. Personal experience. Lots of it - I'm not the expert everybody else claims to be, but I make up for it with what I have done, can do, and know I could do> I need to start blocking people and get rid of the NATTERING NAYSAYERS !!!

In general, regarding how so many parts supposedly cannot be found... BULL!!! Most parts for these are not exactly falling off the parts stores' shelves, that's always a given. All these parts I supposedly will not be able to get - I have gotten them before, and when you have a good Subaru Freak Mechanic, not a problem, I know this first hand from personal experience. I find it alarming, yet not surprise that people come out of the woodwork to say how everything is impossible, cannot be found, will destroy the engine, etc. etc. etc The self-important nay-sayer will NEVER be an endangered species! Hell, just look at what TWEETY has done in the past, especially with his Trike he used to have. I'm sure if I tried to go that route, I would be getting all the same BS from supposed experts! The way people talk crap against the EA81 is absolute NONSENSE! When I have driven my Brat and won street races against nothing special regular street cars, it tells me that my puny, sad, beat up Brat is NOT so puny, and NOT hopelessly under-powered, and in fact, over 80% of the time is GREAT! Proof is in REALITY on the ground and on the street! Nobody is going to tell me how worthless the EA81 is when I have driven and seen it for myself, gotten resultsm won off-roading bets over and over again, etc. Its all just EGO's and self importance, and I dismiss most of it because at its base, most of what what I see is NEGATIVE NEGATIVE NEGATIVE, INSULT INSULT INSULT, CAN'T DO, CAN'T DO, CAN'T DO, Instead of positive, problem-solving, helpful, etc.

Thank you for your more reasonable reply. I, again, am talking about a moderated use of N.O. - There are the usual implications of "Hitting the button" - For only 2 seconds? - Well, now, that depends on how much nitrous is actually being used, right? I could in fact, 'hit the button' or something else, and have extremely little nitrous added, so it could last just as long as I wanted it. The cost of a bottle - already have more than one candidate, lol. The only cost involved is replacing a valve, I have done this before, and maybe a fancy paint job and a sticker if I didn't care about trouble with the law, and same if I decide to camo it to look like something else, or hide it, lol. again, not a problem. I can get a bottle filled for about $15, again, done it before, again, not a problem. Again we're talking about supplementing what I have, by a small amount. I would likely not be running a stock carb, although recent developments might have that, I can gegt a super-charger for as little as $150 that itself might solve the issue, but the type of carb would work better with this, the type of carb (not looking up the model ) it would work well. That carb would cost me about $600.00 - so far the only drawback as far as cost is concerned, and everything I am considering doing are things that can be done in stages, not spending a minimum of $2,000.00 and having it out of commission for weeks. Also, by your reasoning, I could also run an Airplane Fuel mix that might give me similar boost in performance, maybe used with, or instead of Nitrous if they can be used together, but that might be too much for the engine. Pistons are not going to melt. Nitrous does not cost that much Already have some of the parts left over from other projects. I consider my point made successfully. Thank you for the honest and more helpful input.

That, sir, is the most helpful reply I have gotten in several posts/questions I have submitted! At least you meet me half way. As I have stated, either here, and/or in other posts, the performance of my Brat is at about 80% of what I want. That is not too bad, not hard to improve. A few tweaks or minor modifications WILL make a noticeable difference, this I know from my own personal real-time real-life experience with 5 Brats so far. I do not need to build a race car, I need to have just a little more power on occasion, otherwise, My Brat with its EA81 has been a JOY to drive 80% - 90% of the time. If anything, the other replies I keep getting from people trying to shove the EJ's down my throat is only convincing me more, as they are regular reminders of the difference between having a little fun doing a little this and that, one stage at a time, vs. the EXTREME, and yes, that is what it is, of swapping an EJ is just plain ridiculous! I may not have the expertise preferred to do such a thing myself, I cannot find a mechanic worth a damn anywhere in my area at all, much less one I would trust working on my Brat (An older Subaru), and I cannot find anyone in the area who is a Subaru Freak I feel comfortable entrusting the work to. The sole and only exception is a guy who works at a Subie dealership who I can tell knows what he is talking about, but he has no place to do the work, I have no place to do the work, and it would cost at least $2500.00 to do. No. I defy all those who scream EJ ! I am not going to screw myself because someone else thinks they are the expert, when most cannnot even manage to answer the actual question or issue in the first place. Any number of things CAN make enough of a difference to be worth doing without spending enough to buy another whole damned car! In fact, if I were to go to that extreme, I would rather build a cross between my Brat and an XT I may have access to, so that I could maybe adapt its gas/air suspension to the Brat. - Yeah, I know, that would open a whole 'nother can of worms with the "Experts", lol. I don't care! I have owned a total of 5 brats, 7 Subarus in all, and I know what I know. I know where I like going with this, and where I do not want to go with this. However, all things considered, the WEALTH of info you provided me and the community with your Trike project is PRICELESS! and I thank you for it all!